


Lessons

by 1848pianist



Series: Some Heroes Do Wear Capes: Assorted Drabbles in the Marvel Fandom [4]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Asexual Erik, Canon Era, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Cooking, Darwin is Alive, Erik is Crushing Harder than a 12-year Old Girl, F/F, Fluff, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 13:56:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3122714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1848pianist/pseuds/1848pianist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlotte gets a cooking lesson and learns a little more about Erika.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SapphireQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphireQueen/gifts).



> I finally finished! (The tags are wrong because AO3 didn't have Erika and Charlotte listed, but yes this is definitely Rule 63'd)
> 
> Edit: For anyone wondering, I decided on Cambridge rather than Oxford because of theletteraesc's headcanon for Charlotte.

It was really quite amazing how quickly she adjusted to new norms, Charlotte thought as she watched out the window with no small amount of pride. Outside, Angel and Sean were testing their powers of flight over the grounds.

Less than a week ago, Charlotte had been crossing the country, moving from motel to shady motel, using her powers for something _useful_ , for once, and quite possibly feeling more excited and alive than she ever had. And how much of a change that was from the months before, when she had worried about nothing beyond attaining her degree – an accomplishment in itself, to be sure, but nothing compared to the cause she had committed herself to now.

Closing her eyes, she cast out her thoughts over the property, cataloguing the location of each member of her team. Well, perhaps it wasn’t truly hers, but she liked to think of it that way, if only in the privacy of her mind. The telepathic scans were a recent precaution of hers, an extra measure of safety since Darwin’s brush with death. It paid to be careful, as Erika would insist.

Angel and Sean were somewhere above her head, of course, with Darwin watching from the ground below. Inside the house, Alex was alone in his room and rather irritable, judging by the tenor of his thoughts. Charlotte made a mental note to attend to that later. She was sure that Alex’s comparative lack of progress with his powers was the source of his bad mood.

Leaving him alone for the moment, Charlotte found Raven and Hank together, unsurprisingly. She gave them their privacy – no need to pry there.

And Erika, standing in the kitchen, her mind unusually quiet. It hummed with the same intensity as always, but wordlessly, without the typical urgency of thought.

Charlotte headed downstairs to investigate, brushing against Erika’s mind by way of greeting as she entered the kitchen. Erika looked over her shoulder from where she stood at the stove and her focused expression shifted minutely. Their time together on the road had taught Charlotte to recognize the changes in the faint lines around Erika’s eyes and the twitches of her mouth, the equivalent of a smile.

 _Hello_ , Erika’s voice said in Charlotte’s mind. They’d grown accustomed to each other during these past weeks, learning how to interact, adjusting to each other.

 _Hello_ , Charlotte replied, unable or unwilling to mask the smile spreading across her face. “What’s for dinner?” she asked aloud.

“Vegetable soup,” Erika said, indicating the spread of ingredients on the counter. “Although with a rather limited selection of actual vegetables,” she added in a tone of disapproval that Charlotte realized was teasing.

“And who did the shopping last?” Charlotte asked.

“Sean, of course. Fortunate for all of you, I can manage with this.”

“You know that you’re welcome to the recipe books,” Charlotte said. “Someone should get some use out of them.”

Erika gave her an odd look. “I know. What do you think I’ve been using all this time?” It was true that Erika had quite willingly taken charge of meal preparation for the whole house – with the forced cooperation of the other occupants, of course. Charlotte had yet to be allowed to help.

“Oh,” she said. “I just thought you had a good memory.”

Erika raised an eyebrow just high enough to get the point across. “I do, but subsistence living isn’t _quite_ sufficient for feeding teenagers.” She sighed. “You’ve never looked in those recipe books, have you?”

“I’ve _looked_ ,” Charlotte insisted. “Probably.”

Erika rolled her eyes, crossing the room and selecting one of the recipe books in question.

“Here,” she said, shoving it into Charlotte’s hands.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Pick a recipe,” Erika replied, turning back to the counter and organizing the soup ingredients in order of use. “Preferably something that goes with soup, but anything will do. Don’t pick anything too complicated, _or_ too easy.”

“Whatever for?”

Erika glanced over her shoulder, grinning wickedly. “I’m teaching you how to cook, of course.”

“What?” Charlotte sputtered. “You heard Raven, I’m not exactly the person you want in the kitchen.”

“It’s a necessary skill,” Erika said over her protests. “The kids should know how, and so should you. Now, are you going to pick, or should I decide for you?”

“I’ll do it,” Charlotte said.

“The great Charlotte Xavier, defeated by a cookbook,” Erika taunted.

“Shouldn’t you be concentrating on something else?” Charlotte asked, looking pointedly at the no less than four knives chopping vegetables of their own accord.

Erika waved a hand dismissively. “This? Simple.”

“Hmm.” Charlotte said, turning a page. “Here, what about this?”

Erika stared silently over her shoulder for a long moment until Charlotte began to wonder what the matter was.

Finally, Erika huffed and said, “Have I ever mentioned that English spellings are _absurd_?”

“Oh,” Charlotte said, staring down at the title of the recipe: _zucchini bread_. “Actually, I think it’s Italian.”

“ _Anyway_ , you’re in luck and we have all the ingredients.”

“Excellent,” Charlotte said, and then, sensing the feeling of wounded pride coming off Erika’s mind, added, “Honestly, though, I’m amazed you’re so fluent. You’ve only been in the country, what? Three months?”

“I picked it up in Europe, mostly. I was in England for a while.”

“Really? Where did you go?”

Erika gave her a dark look, chopping through a carrot hard enough for the blade to stick in the cutting board. “Certainly not Cambridge.”

 “Right,” Charlotte said, somewhat abashed. “So, the zucchini bread?”

“Yes. What’s the temperature for the oven?”

“Ah—three hundred fifty.”

“Three hund—Fahrenheit.” Erika rolled her eyes again.

“I feel the same way, my friend,” Charlotte said with a grin.

“Next,” Erika said, standing close enough to read over Charlotte’s shoulder that Charlotte can feel the warmth of her, “I trust that you can chop a zucchini?”

“I am inexperienced, not incapable,”

“We’ll see,” Erika laughed, offering her the hilt of a knife.

Charlotte picked it up, wishing she had paid more attention to the way Erika had done it – when she hadn’t used her powers, that is – but how hard could it be?

Before she could move, Erika grabbed her wrist, her slim fingers stronger than they looked.

“Not like that – never cut towards yourself, in case the knife slips.”

“Right,” Charlotte said, voice slightly shaky from the surprise of Erika’s touch. Erika released her wrist suddenly, stepping back.

“Like this?”

“That’s fine.”

They worked in silence for a while, side by side. Charlotte even began to enjoy it: the measuring of ingredients and precise instructions were all rather scientific, and she started to understand why Erika found it relaxing. Erika occasionally stepped in to offer advice or direction – _Use these cutting boards for vegetables only, no meat, don’t cross-contaminate_ – but otherwise left her to it.

Within the hour, Alex, Sean, and Raven appeared, looking hungry.

“Oh God, you let my sister in the kitchen?” Raven said, appalled.

“You’ll eat and you’ll like it,” Charlotte teased.

“If I die of food poisoning, it’s all your fault,” she retorted, following the others out of the kitchen. Charlotte turned back to the loaves on the cooling rack, satisfied by her efforts.

 “Not bad, for a beginner,” Erika whispered in her ear.


End file.
